Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/537



the skin in the immediate neighborhood of the bites was scarified and suction by the means of cupping glasses was employed; afterward a plaster, which was composed in part of theriaca, was applied to this region. The patient made a complete recovery.

In Century V., Amatus gives an account of a fatal case of ear disease. The patient, a sickly-looking boy of eight who had been affected for a long time with a discharge from one ear, presented a non-sensitive lump on the side of the head. "As he began to show signs of feverishness it was decided to incise the lump; and when the incision had been made, it was found that a large part of the skull in this region had been destroyed by caries, as a result of which there was left a cavity in the side of the head, and this cavity was filled with a foul-smelling pus, débris, and granulation tissue that apparently rested on the dura mater. Three days later the surgeon succeeded in removing from the cavity only a small quantity of the sanious material. On the fourth day, after an attack of convulsions, the patient died."

In Century VII. there is given an account of a man of the wealthy class who had been exposed to an excessive degree of cold for so long a time that he was literally almost half frozen. "As he was being carried into the village he gave orders that an ox should be slaughtered and that he himself should be snugly stowed away inside the carcass of the animal as soon as its interior furnishings had been removed. Thus he escaped freezing to death."

In the same century Amatus speaks of having seen a rather interesting case of Filaria Medinensis (called by the Arabs "vena medena") in a negro boy, eighteen years old, who had come to Thessalonica from Memphis, Egypt. "The worm had caused the production of an ulcer close to the boy's heel, and in this the creature's head, which looked very much like a vein, was recognizable. After the Turks had correctly diagnosed the nature of the trouble an Arabian physician, who had managed to secure a purchase on the worm, began rolling it up on a small stick. Gradually, after the lapse of several days, he succeeded in uncoiling the animal in its entire length (three cubits), as shown by the construction of the end of the tail, and thus permanently freed the boy from his trouble. The ancient authors express doubts as to the true nature of the object found in these ulcers, but I, Amatus, having examined the slender white creature and having witnessed its curved outlines as it projected itself outside the opening, do vouch for the fact that it possesses all the characteristics of a true worm."